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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 36.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 29,000 items) |
| Abstract | William Chambers Coker was a botanist, teacher, writer, who taught at the University of North Carolina, 1902-1945, serving as chair of the Department of Botany and editor of the journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society. The collection includes correspondence and other personal and professional records of William Chambers Coker, chiefly 1914-1950. Coker's papers concern family and personal business matters; his research, writing, and international correspondence as a botanist; his activities at the University of North Carolina as a professor and as chair of the Botany Department for 36 years; the journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, of which he was editor, 1904-1945; and numerous civic interests. Also included are Coker's notebooks titled "Plants of Chapel Hill"; files of Alma Holland of the Botany Department as editor of the yearbook of the Garden Club of North Carolina, 1940-1941; files of the Highlands Museum and Biological Laboratory, 1930-1950; and files of the Division of Design and Improvement of School Grounds, University of North Carolina Extension Bureau. Also included are Coker's research notes on his studies of mycology; notes and drawings on various fungi; photographs, field notes, and drawings of plants; blueprints related to what became the Coker Arboretum at the University of North Carolina; and correspondence with Coker's family and friends. |
| Creator | Coker, William Chambers, 1872-1953. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Revisions: Finding aid updated in November 2008 and January 2009 by Benjamin Bromley.
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical Information
William Chambers Coker was a botanist, teacher, writer, who taught at the University of North Carolina, 1902-1945, serving as chair of the Department of Botany and editor of the journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society.
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Scope and Content
The collection includes correspondence and other personal and professional records of William Chambers Coker, chiefly 1914-1950. Coker's papers concern family and personal business matters; his research, writing, and international correspondence as a botanist; his activities at the University of North Carolina as a professor and as chair of the Botany Department for 36 years; the journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, of which he was editor, 1904-1945; and numerous civic interests. Also included are Coker's notebooks titled "Plants of Chapel Hill"; files of Alma Holland of the Botany Department as editor of the yearbook of the Garden Club of North Carolina, 1940-1941; files of the Highlands Museum and Biological Laboratory, 1930-1950; and files of the Division of Design and Improvement of School Grounds, University of North Carolina Extension Bureau. Also included are Coker's research notes on his studies of mycology; notes and drawings on various fungi; photographs, field notes, and drawings of plants; blueprints related to what became the Coker Arboretum at the University of North Carolina; and correspondence with Coker's family and friends.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Correspondence, 1891-1955.
Arrangement: chronological.
Contains primarily correspondence to and from William Chambers Coker, including carbon copies of his letters and letters from many botanists around the world. Topics include botanical questions, exchange of specimens, the University of North Carolina, and personal matters, among others.
| Box 1 |
1891-October 1917 |
| Box 2 |
November 1917-November 1920 |
| Box 3 |
December 1920-July 1923 |
| Box 4 |
August 1923-August 1926 |
| Box 5 |
September 1926-December 1929 |
| Box 6 |
1930-1932 |
| Box 7 |
1933-June 1936 |
| Box 8 |
July 1936-1939 |
| Box 9 |
1940-July 1943 |
| Box 10 |
August 1943-October 1948 |
| Box 11 |
November 1948-1955 |
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Series 2. Notebooks, 1884-1912.
Notebooks kept by William Chambers Coker, labelled "Plants of Chapel Hill."
| Box 11 |
Plants of Chapel Hill |
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Series 3. Bureau of Design, 1920-1925.
Arrangement: chronological.
Materials relating to the Bureau of Design and Improvement of School Grounds of the Extension Division of the University of North Carolina, 1920-1925. Included are many diagrams and pictures, with accompanying lists of plantings for individual schools, public and private. Also included is correspondence about the financial and administrative aspects of the Bureau, among other topics.
| Box 12 |
Bureau of Design |
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Series 4. Garden Club Year Book, 1939-1941.
Arrangement: chronological.
Files of Alma Holland of the Botany Department Office relating to her work as editor of the 1940-1941 yearbook of the Garden Club of North Carolina. Included is Holland's correspondence with Garden Club officers, names, addresses, committee reports, messages, and minutes.
| Box 12 |
Garden Club Year Book |
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Series 5. Highlands Museum and Biological Laboratory, 1930-1950.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence, reports, minutes of trustees, and mimeographed informational papers.
| Box 12 |
Highlands Museum and Biological Laboratory |
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Series 6. Mycology Notes.
Typed drafts; manuscript notes; and illustrations, both photographs and drawings, organized generally in units by genus and species.
| Box 13 |
Units 1-6 |
| Box 14 |
Units 7-11 |
| Box 15 |
Units 11-13 |
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Series 7. Fungal Notes and Drawings.
Botanical subject files arranged by species, topic, or location.
| Box 16 |
A-C |
| Box 17 |
D-O |
| Box 18 |
P-Z |
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Series 8. Photographs, Notes, and Blueprints.
Research notes, photographs, drawings, and field notes, as well as blueprints of what became the Coker Arboretum at the University of North Carolina.
| Box 19 |
A-O |
| Box 20 |
P-Z |
Image Box IB-3220/1-3
IB-3220/1IB-3220/2IB-3220/3 |
Prints of trees, plants, gardens, fields, and other botanical subjects |
Special Format Image SF-P-3220/1-5
SF-P-3220/1SF-P-3220/2SF-P-3220/3SF-P-3220/4SF-P-3220/5 |
Glass negatives of botanical subjects |
| Extra Oversize Paper Folder XOPF-3220/1 |
Blueprints of what became the Coker Arboretum on the campus of the University of North Carolina |
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Additions.
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Addition of June 1979.
Typed notes and pictures of various types of fungus, notebooks containing William Chambers Coker's field notes, and interspersed other items.
| Box 21 |
Typed Notes |
| Box 22 |
Notebooks |
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Addition of November 1983.
Professional correspondence, 1902-1916, between Coker and botanists in the United States and elsewhere. Most of the letters concern botanical specimens.
Box 23-24
Box 23Box 24 |
Correspondence, 1902-1916 |
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Addition of April 2006.
Cards with poems written inside that William Chambers Coker sent to Lydia Sargent Macauley.
| Box 27 |
Cards |
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Addition of December 2008.
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters, 1897-1914, to William Chambers Coker from family and friends.
| Box 25 |
1897-1904 |
| Box 26 |
1905-1908 |
| Box 27 |
1908-1914, undated |
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Items Separated